Last week, we began our study of the voting patterns on the Illinois Supreme Court between 2010 and 2014 by considering the agreement rates between the Justices in non-unanimous civil cases. Now we turn to a different aspect of the issue: the question of swing votes on the Court.
For most of the period, the
Yesterday, we addressed swing voter patterns at the Illinois Supreme Court between 2005 and 2009. Today, we turn to agreement rates between the Justices during the final five years of our study period, 2010 to 2014.
The Court’s unanimity rate between 2010 and today presents us with a bit of a conundrum. In 2010 and
Last week, we began our intensive look at the voting dynamics at the Illinois Supreme Court in civil cases between 2005 and 2009. Today, we assess the results of our study of agreement rates by turning to the issue of swing voters. How often was each Justice in the majority when the Court was divided?
Yesterday, we looked at the evidence of a centrist voting bloc at the Court between 2005 and 2009, consisting of Chief Justice Thomas and Justices Garman and Karmeier, frequently joined by Justice Fitzgerald. Today, we look at the agreement rates among the remainder of the Justices.
Justice Burke initially had quite high agreement rates with
With one seat on the Court switching from Democratic to Republican hands as a result of the 2004 election, a centrist majority of Chief Justice Thomas, Garman and Karmeier began to emerge, often joined by Justice Fitzgerald. As a result, with the exception of 2006 (when the unanimity rate abruptly dipped to 57.4%), the Court
Last week, we began our study of voting dynamics on the Illinois Supreme Court since 2000 by looking at agreement rates in non-unanimous civil cases between 2000-2004. Once again, to minimize extreme swings from one year to the next, we report three-year floating averages.
With two plurality voting blocs on the Court during these years,